Time is a great teacher. As we age, lessons are learned, perspective is gained and experience is accumulated that makes us more receptive, understanding and humble. When it comes to farming and agriculture, these industry leaders and livestock producers open up about advice they wish they could give their younger self.
“Make plans but learn to pivot and realize that failure is not the end all, be all. It’s nothing to be afraid of. Failure is the way that you learn, and you just keep going. The only failure is when you stop trying. I think in our younger years, we’re so afraid to fail that we just don’t try. I think especially as young women, we get in there and we’ve always done things the right way. We feel like if we screw up, it’s going to affect everything. That stops us from trying things that are new or scary.” – Jackie Ponder, Indiana pork producer
“One of the things that I’ve learned the hard way, and I wish I had taken a little more time earlier on to practice, is taking the time to appreciate and build personal relationships. I’m a very task-focused individual. For me, once I can get through one step, I’m thinking about how I check the box on the next step. I want to get projects to completion so I can feel that rewarding sensation at the end. If I could talk to my younger self, I’d say slow down a little bit and appreciate all the conversations, especially when it comes to relating to peers, coworkers, family and other people who are important in your life. I probably didn’t fully appreciate that when I was younger, and now looking back, I’ve struggled with certain individuals in my professional career that I wish I could have done over. I learned that if I had taken a little more time to think about what I could learn from others, rather than moving on to the next task of what I needed to accomplish, I think my path would have been a little easier than what I made for myself.” – Josh Maschhoff, Illinois pork producer
“One the first things I would tell my younger self is to surround myself with really good people, listen to them and ask them the right questions. It will save you a lot of mistakes over your life. I’d also tell myself that words do matter. Work on your communication skills to be a strong leader, whether it’s for your family or your business or even the National Pork Board. You’ve got to communicate well so people trust you, they understand you, and they want to work with you. That will take you a long way in life to learn those skills.” – Al Wulfekuhle, Iowa pork producer
“As a 20 year old, don’t be afraid of risk. This is the time when you don’t have a lot of equity built and so go forth and try to live your dreams and to find what you really want to do — be that in agriculture, or be it in something else ... don’t have paralysis by analysis, don’t let someone else diminish your dream because they don’t have the vision that you might have.” – Eric Smith, Alabama beef producer
“You’re going to mess up and it’s going to be okay, and you’re going to learn from that. We’re all in such a hurry to to get to where we think we’re going, and, actually it is the whole process of getting there is when we learn. Some of my biggest lessons were from mistakes that I made. And, and I thank my father for letting me make some of those ... things aren’t going to go perfectly. I mean, whether it’s the weather or the markets or or breeding decision, and that’s okay. That’s all part of the journey. I think if we stay disciplined and learn from our challenges, that’s what makes us better and makes us, you know, pay attention, calm down and and stick to the basics to be able to make things better as we go forward.” – Mark Gardiner, Kansas beef producer
“We all have to make decisions, and whether we’re farming or in the business world, you can make a good decision, but your intentions may be totally wrong. That’s where the importance of a mission, vision and core values come into play. Core values and vision help pull together the intentions around all the decisions that you have to make, whether it’s personal or in the business world. It helps you make sure that you stay true. When I was a youngster, I made a lot of decisions that were a good idea, but I did not have the right intentions about how I was going to treat people, how I was going to take care of the profitability and those sorts of things. I believe that if I would have focused on my mission, vision and core values more as a young person, I would have made better decisions and helped more people through the career that I’ve enjoyed.” – Bob Ruth, Pennsylvania pork producer
“I always thought if you worked really hard, you would be rewarded for your hard work. And I do still believe that that’s true, but I think that was too humble of an approach to my younger self. I believe now, looking back, I needed to be more of my own advocate. Because if I didn’t believe in myself, I don’t know why I expected anyone else to believe in me. Being your own advocate and then with that, making your own way is something I wish I could tell my 20-something self.” – Trish Cook, Iowa pork producer
“For a lot of people, when they’re younger, they tend to think that they’ve got a lot to offer. Quite frankly, one of the biggest mistakes I made is that I always looked to surround myself with people who were like me or agreed with me. There’s a lot of shortcomings I have, and I’ve learned I need to leverage the strengths of others. The last thing that we want to do is look for clones or somebody who’s just like us or thinks just like us. We will be better if we surround ourselves with people who have different viewpoints and different abilities. Had I appreciated that more when I was younger, that would have benefited me so much. I’m not saying I don’t have room for growth yet today, but in hindsight, I wish I would have been more open to people challenging me, rather than thinking that I had the answers. The older I get, the more I realize how little I really know. It took me a while to admit that I don’t have all the answers.” – Dwight Mogler, Iowa pork producer
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